The May 2017 Stats Are Out! And They Tell an Interesting Story

Those of us entrenched in Toronto’s real estate market every day were unsurprised by the May 2017 real estate statistics released today – we’ve been feeling a shifting market for weeks now. Here’s the story the numbers tell:

Number of Sales

There were 10,195 sales reported by the Toronto Real Estate Board in May – that’s a 20.3% decrease compared to May 2016

Let’s have a look at what happened in May by type of homes:

Winner: Condo Market in Toronto (where sales were down only 6.4%)

Loser: Detached homes – down a full 26% from May 2016

Sales Prices

Here’s where the story gets really interesting.

The average price in the Greater Toronto Area (including all the ‘burbs) was $882,937, a drop of 4.3% compared to April 2017. The good news: that’s still an increase of 17% compared to a year ago (or $133,033 on an average priced home).

In the City of Toronto, the average price for May 2017 was $899,728 – an increase of 15% since last May…but down 4.6% compared to April. That 4.6% translates to almost $45,000 on an average priced home.

The Lesson for Sellers Right Now: While prices are still up 15-17% compared to last year, you won’t be seeing the prices your neighbours got earlier this year, in March or April. Your home has still had an incredible year of price appreciation and you can still take advantage of all that extra equity by selling now – but you won’t be selling at the highest price ever (and that’s ok!).

Here’s what happened to prices by type of property in the City of Toronto:

Once again, the condo market is the best performing sector.

Number of Listings

It’ll come as no surprise to anyone who’s been in the market to buy a home in Toronto, that the number of listings was WAY UP in May 2017. New listings were actually up 48.9% in May, compared to last year. This was great news for Buyers, given how starved for inventory we’ve been all year…but not great news for Sellers. The good news for everyone: this still represents only 2 months of inventory, meaning it would only take us 2 months to sell all the houses on the market right now. And economists consider a market with less than 4 months inventory to be a Seller’s Market, so Sellers: you’re still in control.

The Opportunity for Buyers Right Now: You’ve got a ton of properties to choose from…something we haven’t seen in years. What are you waiting for?

Days on Market

We often look to how long it takes to sell a home (known in the real estate world as ‘days on market’ as a sign of what’s happening in the market. If it’s taking longer to sell, the market is softening.

In May 2016, the average home was on the market for 15 days…and in May 2017? 11 days. But….

Important Caveat: It’s common in Toronto for agents to re-list properties that aren’t selling, so the Days on Market stat is actually a deceptive marker. This year, as bidding war dates failed and Sellers tried to adjust, we saw the same properties getting re-listed over and over, so the 11 Days on Market stat isn’t particularly a sign of anything.